Mainframe Computers: Dispelling Myths, Getting to the Facts
September 23, 2021
Hosted by William Ulrich
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Episode Description
Is your organization making major investments in cloud and other digital technologies? Concerned that your organization has been left behind in the digital revolution? Does the cost and time spent on information technology grow even as time-to-market, the ability to innovate, and enterprise agility degrade? Is leadership pointing the finger at your mainframe computers as the root of all evil? Are consultants and analysts saying that mainframes belong in a museum, not in a modern enterprise? If so, you may find your organization ensconced in a multiyear, multimillion dollar mainframe migration that strains your budget along with business leaders’ patience and the ability to compete. Reality challenges the mainframe migration myth. Mainframes are still in use by more than 70% of the Fortune 500, handle 90% of global credit card transactions, manage 68% of the world’s computing workload at 6% of the cost, and are more resilient and reliable than their non-mainframe counterparts. Mainframe revenue for IBM’s latest model grew year-over-year 62% in 2019. Yet the drumbeat to migrate from the mainframe seems to just grow louder. Join William Ulrich and his guest, Kevin Stoodley, as they examine the stark reality behind the mainframe migration movement. Mr. Stoodley is currently CTO for IBM Z. William and Kevin will look at the root cause of the challenges facing organizations today that are driving the perception behind the migration movement and deep dive into why many of these massive, high risk mainframe migration efforts may be harming your organization and its reputation in ways you may not even imagine. Listen in to find out why your organization’s technical future may be based on the very hardware systems that are automating your organization today.
The North Star
Archives Available on VoiceAmerica Business Channel
The North Star takes a deep dive into the topic of strategy execution, often challenging conventional wisdom for achieving an organization’s strategic vision. The host and thought leaders from multiple fields explore concepts that include rethinking innovation, increasing enterprise agility, transitioning to the circular economy, managing enterprise risk and becoming a cognitive enterprise. Setting sights on one’s “north star” is only half the story. Decades of experience point to the headwinds organizations have faced in pursuit of their strategic vision. To that end, the North Star examines how organizations can more effectively deliver on critical business strategies in these uncertain times. The show tackles intractable challenges that many organizations have historically sidestepped, such as optimizing major program investments and untangling high risk technology deployments. While the show often points toward the road less traveled, that road that can make all the difference.
William Ulrich
William Ulrich is President of Tactical Strategy Group, Inc., Cofounder of Business Architecture Associates, President and Cofounder of the Business Architecture Guild and Cutter Consortium Fellow. As a management consultant for more than 40 years, Mr. Ulrich continues to serve as advisor, mentor and workshop leader to corporations and governments worldwide. He is a thought leader in strategy execution, business transformation, business architecture and transformation oversight. Mr. Ulrich has the unique ability to engage executives and practitioners across business and IT boundaries to facilitate and streamline ecosystem-wide transformation. His transformation workshops and lectures have been widely attended by organizations worldwide. Mr. Ulrich blends his IT transformation expertise with his extensive business architecture and business transformation experience to deliver end-to-end solutions that are fully aligned to business strategy. He has authored or coauthored multiple books and transformation methodologies and was an originating contributor to “A Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge.” Prior to founding Tactical Strategy Group in 1990, Mr. Ulrich served as management consultant, spending the bulk of the 1980s with KPMG where he helped mature its software reengineering practice. His latest writings focus on the cognitive enterprise, transitioning to the circular economy and business-driven IT architecture transformation.
